CookWise: The Hows & Whys of Successful Cooking, The Secrets of Cooking Revealed by Shirley O. Corriher
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Book Reviews of CookWise: The Hows & Whys of Successful Cooking, The Secrets of Cooking Revealed
Book Review: Excellent tools for the experimental cook
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent cookbook for the experimental cook. If you open up three or four cookbooks to gauge the similarities between different recipes for the same dish, get a few ideas, and then use them to make up a version of your own, this is the book for you. Have you ever wondered which were important steps in a recipe, and which were OK to change? Have you wondered why you can't get consistent results from some ingredients, and wished you knew exactly what was happening so that you could compensate? Shirley Corriher explains chemically and mechanically what is happening to the ingredients at each point in preparation and cooking and gives you the benefit of hundreds of controlled kitchen experiments that it would take years (and endless patience) to duplicate for yourself. This book provides the tools to launch off into your own creations even in the previously mysterious realms of breads and sauces.
The recipes are good, but more importantly, they illustrate a particular reaction or effect, and give you the tools to customize them for yourself.
Book Review: A Different Kind of Cookbook
Summary: 5 Stars
Cookwise is the cookbook I have been looking for years. It is not your usual cookbook, which is chock full of recipes with little explanation of why. Cookwise instead is broken down into sections that explain the chemistry behind each recipe.When learning to cook, I always wanted to know why the ingredients were used, and why they were put in in a certain order. This book gave me the background I needed in order to begin experimenting with my own recipes, based upon a foundation of knowledge.
For example: the first section of the book pertains to breads and baking. Included in this section is in-depth explanations of gluten, types of flours, yeasts, and shaping and kneading techniques. The section then delves into the different combinations required for breads, flaky crusts, cookies, etc.
I am a novice cook, and this book has been indispensable for me. This book is ideal for someone trying to learn how to cook. It's composition and ordering is probably confusing, and the recipes are too basic, for someone that already knows how to cook.
Book Review: A "must-have" for serious cooks and lovers of cooking
Summary: 5 Stars
Second only to the classic "On Food and Cooking" by Corriher's good friend Harold McGhee, Cookwise is a pragmatically focused book on the science of cooking applied to actually doing it. I've read other reviews here that complain they don't like the recipes (Corriher's baking, for example "is too sweet") - this isn't a recipe book gang. Its a book that helps you apply the science of cooking. Corriher's recipes are illustrative of the physics, chemistry and process she's discussing (and frankly, most are wonderful). They're Southern in their approach, so there's a regional bias - its fine.
Want to know how to make cakier, thicker cookies... or to make them flatter and more buttery? Shirley lays it on you. Flour, corn starch or arrowroot as a thickner? What does adding eggs due to the custard base of ice cream and why? What does it mean to have your proteins clump? Learn which applications beg what ingredient. This is a great learning book and almost as much fun to just sit and read for enjoyment as McGhee's classic.
Book Review: Why does it do that????? AHA!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been cooking forever, a devotee of Food Channel, myriads of cookbooks, a fan of Alton Brown (a lot of whose stuff has apparently come from Shirley who appears on the show). I can whip up a masterpiece (so I've been told) from the leavings in the refrigerator, recipes never to be repeated. I have created recipes from tasting commercial products for duplication and improvement. At last, the knowledge of how it all fits together in one place! This book is amazing. It is NOT a cookbook in the usual sense of a collection of recipes, but a Cook's book, that will teach you to cook better, more wisely, with better assurance of the results. It allows you to truly become a cook rather than a blind recipe follower. It tells you how AND why cooking works in all the big areas of baking, frying, candies, ice creams and lots of others. It is a friendly textbook that will confer a master's degree worth of useful knowledge. It is a must read if you care about food preparation beyond opening a box and mixing.Book Review: A Cook's Secret Weapon!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is an absolute gem! I have learned so much from "Cookwise" and am constantly referring to it for information (and inspiration). Ms. Corriher excels in explaining the science of cooking in an easy-to-understand format that does not patronize. She is knowledgeable and passionate about her subject and seems to have a sincere interest in helping her readers become better cooks. From learning the differences between flours and in which instances to use them for successful results to making a lemon meringue pie with meringue that doesn't weep, it's all in here.
I've read this book from cover to cover and seven chapters discuss bread and breadmaking techniques; how to bake successful pie crusts, cookies and cakes; the role of eggs in cooking and baking; sauces; cooking methods for fruits and vegetables; meat and seafood cookery; and last but by no means least, desserts.
If you love cooking and indeed want to become wiser, get this book! You'll be very pleased you did.